tbo

I had the same issue this morning on my son's reservation, only his said $868. They fixed it within 10 minutes of me contacting them. I was mostly worried about it being cancelled and them losing their room.

9 minutes ago, seemoreroyals said:

If I had to guess where this is heading, NCL will continue to monetize eating on cruise ships the way they have monetized adult beverages.  Not long ago you could get just about anything you wanted with the standard adult drink package.  Then the price went up. Then the price went up some more along with the 20% gratuities that came with it.  Then the super duper drink package came along and limited what you could get with the standard adult beverage package along with additional price increases on both packages.  

 

I would not be surprised if sometime in the near future NCL introduces the super duper all you can eat on a cruise package where for an additional $500 per guest you can eat all you want with an additional 20% added to gratuities of course.  If you do not like the idea of being limited to 1-1-1-1 for your eating at both specialty diners and more than likely soon to be added regular diners this will be an option that many cruisers will be willing to pay.

 

Right now this is all conjecture.  But based on the success they have had with monetizing the adult drink packages I could easily see this happening with the way they manage our dining choices.

Royal already does this, they have an "unlimited" dining package that you can purchase. Came in a little under $500 for 2 people on our cruises last year. Worked in all of their specialty restaurants for dinners and places that were open for lunch.We were usually "treated" to an extra entree for the table to share, though I expect that had something to do with how they were counting the credits and gratuities. We felt it was well worth the extra money-on 2 RCL cruises, aside from breakfast, we never set foot in the MDR and had fantastic experiences.

If NCL offered this, depending on the price point we would certainly try it.

On 1/8/2023 at 10:51 PM, Travelling2Some said:

 

In practice, though, I think it will turn out to be acceptable to sub a soup for a seafood appetizer.  The soup is almost certainly less expensive so they would have no logical reason to refuse. 

 

I agree with this. Some folks can't eat seafood due to allergies, so they just don't get an appetizer? I'm not a seafood fan at all, so I'll be asking about it for sure.  I'd like to hear some first hand reporting from cruisers coming back since this change was made before jumping to conclusions. And experiences may differ ship to ship.

Just now, cruiseny4life said:

This was offered for a very short amount of time. Maybe a month? I'm thinking it came around in mid-November and ended on 12/15/22. Someone might have a more exact start date.

Ok, thank you. We booked way before that so wouldn't apply to us.

Was this a special offer or to be included on all packages? I'm not seeing anything like that on our confirmation. My summary also does not look like that above.

So we can use photos that are saved to our phone or computer? I'll be checking in for 2 cabins and we all won't be together for taking pictures when the time comes to do so.

2 hours ago, bugtyler2 said:

How much does the pass for a week cost? On Encore

Probably will depend on the sailing and length of the cruise. We are on Encore, 7 nights, 2/12/23-we pre- booked at $299 per person for the week.

19 hours ago, European_CruiseGirl said:

I am so sorry this happened to you op. And of course to others on this cruise. While ship happens and due to weather related reasons you sometimes cannot get to a tender port it is always a sad situation when a cruiseline cancels a port in advance. Particularly if the reason would be bad scheduling of the cruiseline.
 

It will be interesting to see what happens for cruises around very late Feb/early March. It looks like this now for 3/4 for GSC (see pic below) 

 

https://cruisedig.com/ports/great-stirrup-cay-bahamas/arrivals

 

More ”Due to unforseen reasons” emails coming? Can CSG really handle 3 ships… if not… NCL - there is nothing unforseen in a situation where you yourself schedule 3 (or even 2) of your ships to your own private island for the same day and then realize you have gone over the max capacity that your own island can handle. 

 

 

Give it some time and this will change. We will be on Encore 2/12-cruisemapper showed 3 ships at GSC for a while, it's now back to just Encore for the day we are supposed to be there. Fingers crossed it doesn't change and we can stop.

OP-I'm sorry that you are dealing with changes. We are on the week before you and feel the same. No Broadway show-really stinks! May not make GSC, that's a built in gamble for every cruise that has a stop scheduled there, rough waters and they don't go. Now I'm reading in various places that Puerto Plata, DR could also be a no go, depending on if there are 2 Carnival ships docked at Amber Cove the day we are scheduled for there. Let's rub some more salt in the wound-I'm reading no refund of port fees. Oh and today found out service is being cut down to one time a day room cleaning-that doesn't bother me so much, but for some I can see why it would make a difference with more than 2 people in a room.

All of that being said-by golly we are going to have a good time. It's paid for already and we are very excited to be blessed to have this vacation. And next time we go....it will not be NCL!

Just now, wil e coyote said:

@tbo, no one knows if there is any work going on (or planned) at Taino Bay. Other lines (like RCL) have been sending very large ships into Taino Bay right along. I don't think anyone on the boards knows the reason why NCL isn't sending their large ships there.

I did not realize that other ships were docking there. I thought there was an issue with the dock/port that needed work due to a ship (Escape?) getting stuck. 

That is even worse in my opinion. What the heck? If NCL can't stop there and they know that,  it should be removed from their schedule and replaced with a new port.

First no Broadway show on our sailing, now we may miss this port, and of course GSC is always iffy on stopping.....ah well.....at least it won't be below zero with snow!

We are on the Feb 12 Encore sailing. So far no emails reporting any changes. Our scheduled day, at this point is 2/17. Cruisemapper shows this, Amber Cove site shows no ships on this date. Another site shows us there on Feb 14🤨.

This is the port that we don't want to miss, we have an excursion booked that we really don't want to miss. Is there any way to find out if the needed work to Taino Bay is in progress? I know shot in the dark lol.

We are on Encore in February, Kinky Boots will not be playing. It's disappointing. We booked thinking we'd have a big Broadway style show, and now it looks like we will get a theater that will be dark most of the week.

This is our 3rd and likely last NCL cruise. To not have some sort of a replacement  entertainment shows me that they have my money and don't care. We were on 2 RCL cruises this year, never had to look for entertainment-matter of fact it was hard to fit it all in.

18 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

No there isn't. In April, we were booked on the Escape and the 7-day Thermal Suite pass was $199. Our Escape cruise was cancelled due to the accident in the DR, and we were rebooked on the Encore sailing the exact same itinerary one day later. The 7-day Thermal Suite on the Encore was $326. I argued with the spa personnel that the Thermal Suite on the Escape (for $127 less) was bigger, nicer with 180 degree forward views than the small, crappy Encore Thermal Suite squished at the back of the ship. They gave me the 10% discount.  

$326? for 1 person for 7 days? WOW-we are booked next Feb on the Encore and was looking forward to getting a suite pass, but that's a lot more than we were expecting. I thought I was over estimating at $250!

Great report so far! We will be boarding Allure on 5/14, so following along. Right now just nervous about getting passing the covid test.

Looking forward to more pics and your report!

Thanks for the review, we have 11 days until we are on the Allure. Also interested to hear about the pub musician, on our late January Symphony cruise we found ourselves at the pub every night. Even with repeat song we had a great time.

2 hours ago, erinsmom03 said:

So excited! We got our upgrade! We moved from a JS to a GS on Allure for our cruise on May 8th! 

Congrats! Just curious-were the suites showing as sold out previously? We are on the May 14th sailing, I have bids in, but suites are showing as sold out and have been for a while. I think we are going to be on a very full ship!

I did the eMed test this morning-Negative, yay!. Hubby went to CVS-results in about an hour-also negative. Just curious-my result shows a CLIA number-his does not-is that ok?

I have back up eMed test if we need to redo it.

58 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Congrats!!  And I think you are on Odyssey as well?  If so..."sea" you on board!  🙂  

 

Though I will probably still be "pending" when we do.  😣

Actually we are on Symphony, but I'll wave if I see you going by!

Good luck on your bid-although it seems you are coming out a little better than winning the bid!

We won our bid for a JS, next hurdle is the covid test a week from today, and fingers crossed we get to sail away on 1/29!

2 minutes ago, Cruises are us said:

I'm curious to know how you all "checked" your bids.  I just looked in my cruise planner and saw the change in the room.  I don't know how else to check.  

2 ways-

Google Royal Up and it will take you to the site where you can put in your last name and Res #, for some reason when I go that route I have to enter that info twice.

OR

If you have the confirmation email, there will be a link in that to click.

7 minutes ago, binro01 said:

Do you mind if I ask what was your bid on th JS? I'm on Allure at the end February and trying to decide what is "competitive".

I bid the min +$50. Have you checked lately? I know that there was a "sale" on ours, which prompted me to bid on the GS.

I just checked my bids, GS bid is now expired and JS bid is pending and I cannot modify or cancel it. Fingers crossed that means we got it!

Kind of a  related question-if I stay up late on Wed and test after midnight, that is ok and will count as Thursday? I already know I'm not going to be able to sleep because of anxiety about this test!

1 minute ago, island lady said:

 

You are most welcome.  I detailed that account in my survey afterwards to RCI.  Explained how they are losing money on that program.  And with RCI....money talks. 

 

Maybe Royal UP will be asked to tighten up...and at least let us know the day before at the latest someday.    That program is flawed.  

This is my first time on Royal, and they definitely do things different than other lines I've been on. It is a different environment with covid so I get that some things have to be done differently.

4 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I have.   Bid 1000 on GS on the 2nd of this month.  Still showing pending after sail away.  Went to GS desk and asked about upgrade from my JS to GS.  They had plenty, and even choice of decks.  She told me it would be 600 to upgrade.  Happily took it.   Middle of the night I finally get my "denial" email from Royal UP.  

 

The following week, having a B2B...had a 2200 bid in for an OS, as I really wanted to try one for the first time.  Royal up still pending, and sail away had begun.  This time....I cancelled the bid and went down to GS desk again.  Received upgrade to OS for 1000.  

 

Score 400 + 1200 for Island Lady.....RCI loses 1600 by using that program.  I wonder how many other loses that company is causing them?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm keeping track of how many available rooms they have on my sailing for the bids I have in, I will be trying this strategy if I'm not lucky enough to win and haven't heard by sail away. And like you said, they should have a more efficient system, so it's their loss that I won't feel a bit bad about! Thanks!

Others on my sailing have received their upgrades already for 1/29, I have 2 showing pending. Will they have more upgrades or is that pretty much it?